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Tuesday, April 5, 2011

...Oven: Chocolate Chip Easter Egg Cookies

I am not a religious person, but one thing that I love about this Easter time of year is the glut of candy about. In particular, my very favorite kind of candy - Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs. Seriously, they are SO much better than regular peanut butter cups. The peanut butter to chocolate ratio makes such a difference. More peanut butter is always better, is the lesson here.

But! Also, there are other kinds of Easter specific candies that crop up. Like these Cadbury chocolate egg things. Which I would probably have forgotten about in a peanut butter egg high had not a blogger mentioned them. Not only mentioned them, but mentioned using them in cookies. Cookies? Sold!

In a large mixing bowl beat the shortening and butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add the brown sugar, granulated sugar, and baking soda. Beat mixture until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in the eggs and vanilla until combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in remaining flour. Stir in chocolate pieces and broken egg bits.

Drop dough by rounded teaspoons 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in a 375 degree F oven 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and let cool. Makes about 60 cookies.

In photos:

I am a lazy bum. I did not take photos of the dough-making steps. You can look back at various other cookie recipes on here and find them if you are really so inclined. It all looks the same.

Do you want to know how I broke up the eggs? Are you sure you want to know? With my TEETH. It's true. I became very cro-magnon and used my teeth to break the suckers. Because um, they weren't breaking with my hands alone. And the oven kills my germs, anyway, right?

It's okay. I'm the only one eating these cookies. Because I made half a batch. So the lie of that picture is how much batter you'll have. Because you'll have a lot more!

About to head into the oven.

Ta-da!

Here is the sad truth about these cookies, though. They are really only good for one or two days, and then they veer off into that crusty crispy territory that cookies often do. That territory can be somewhat lessened by a quick 7 second zap in the microwave, but... You know what else? It might've done these cookies some good to spend some time in the fridge before heading into the oven's mighty heat breath. I've long postulated this is the secret to good cookies, and I am proven right once again. Huzzah?